Genus
Valid Extinct

Therizinosaurus

Maleev 1954
Etymology Reptile à faux.

Therizinosaurus is a genus of very large therizinosaurid dinosaurs that lived during the Late Cretaceous period in what is now Asia. It contains a single species, Therizinosaurus cheloniformis, known from the fossiliferous Nemegt Formation. The first remains of Therizinosaurus were found in 1948 by a Mongolian field expedition in the Gobi Desert and later described by Evgeny Maleev in 1954. The genus is only known from a few bones, including gigantic manual unguals, from which it gets its name, and additional findings comprising fore and hindlimb elements that were discovered from the 1960s through the 1980s.

Temporal range
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Neogene
252 201 145 66 0 Ma
PBDB occurrences
2
Group
Dinosaures
Herbivore Ground dwelling Terrestrial
Therizinosaurus
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2014-03-25 12.46.44 © Yuya Tamai from Gifu, Japan · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia
PBDB Wikipedia
Classification
Dinosauria Unranked clade
Theropoda Unranked clade
Neotheropoda Unranked clade
Averostra Unranked clade
Tetanurae Unranked clade
Coelurosauria Unranked clade
Maniraptoriformes Unranked clade
Therizinosauria Unranked clade
Therizinosauroidea Superfamily
Therizinosauridae Family
Therizinosaurus Genus
Fossil sites 2 geolocated sites
Distribution
Top countries
🇲🇳 Mongolia
2
Geological formations
Nemegt
2
Temporal distribution
Maastrichtian (72.2–66 Ma)
2
Species (1)
Therizinosaurus cheloniformis 72 Ma
Bibliography
Original description
E. A. Maleev. 1954. Noviy cherepachoobrazhniy yashcher v Mongolii [New tortoise-like saurian from Mongolia]. Priroda 1954(3):106-108
Bibliography (2)
R. Gradzinski, Z. Kielan-Jaworowska, and T. Maryanska. 1977. Upper Cretaceous Djadokhta, Barun Goyot and Nemegt formations of Mongolia, including remarks on previous subdivisions. Acta Geologica Polonica 27(3):281-318
E. A. Maleev. 1954. Noviy cherepachoobrazhniy yashcher v Mongolii [New tortoise-like saurian from Mongolia]. Priroda 1954(3):106-108